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    I Know This Much Is True: A Novel
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    I Know This Much Is True: A Novel
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    I Know This Much Is True: A Novel
    Ebook1,174 pages21 hours

    I Know This Much Is True: A Novel

    By Wally Lamb

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    #1 New York Times Bestseller and Oprah Book Club selection

    "Thoughtful . . . heart-wrenching . . . . An exercise in soul-baring storytelling—with the soul belonging to 20th-century America itself. It's hard to read and to stop reading, and impossible to forget."  — USA Today

    Dominick Birdsey, a forty-year-old housepainter living in Three Rivers, Connecticut, finds his subdued life greatly disturbed when his identical twin brother Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic, commits a shocking act of self-mutilation. Dominick is forced to care for his brother as well as confront dark secrets and pain he has buried deep within himself—a journey of the soul that takes him beyond his blue-collar New England town to Sicily’s Mount Etna, the birthplace of his grandfather and namesake. Coming to terms with his life and lineage, Dominick struggles to find forgiveness and finally rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his troubled twin.

    I Know This Much Is True is a masterfully told story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal—an unforgettable masterpiece.   

    Editor's Note

    On the screen…

    Wally Lamb’s acclaimed novel (an Oprah’s Book Club pick, all the way back in 1998) is now an HBO limited drama series largely helmed by Mark Ruffalo: He's the executive producer and also plays both Dominick and Thomas Birdsey, the twins at the heart of the story.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMar 17, 2009
    ISBN9780061745799
    Author

    Wally Lamb

    Wally Lamb is the author of five New York Times bestselling novels: She’s Come Undone, I Know This Much Is True, The Hour I First Believed, Wishin’ and Hopin’, and We Are Water. His first two works of fiction, She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, were both #1 New York Times bestsellers and selections of Oprah’s Book Club. Lamb edited Couldn’t Keep It to Myself, I’ll Fly Away, and You Don’t Know Me, three volumes of essays from students in his writing workshop at York Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Connecticut, where he has been a volunteer facilitator for two decades. He lives in Connecticut and New York.

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    Reviews for I Know This Much Is True

    4/5

    1,736 ratings101 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I had this book on my shelf for forever and after reading some reviews decided to finally read it. I wasn't disappointed, it was pretty good, just not as great as everyone else seemed to think. The characters were good and so was the story line, it was just soooo long!
    • 5/5
      What a story!
    • 5/5
      An all-time fave!
    • 5/5
      Lamb gets into his characters' heads better than anyone. He manages to make you care about all of his characters in spite of their flaws. A well-crafted story about mental illness, love and healing.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book (read in 2000). My favorite passage:“I am not a smart man, particularly, but one day, at long last, I stumbled from the dark woods of my own, and my family’s, and my country’s past, holding in my hands these truths: that love grows from the rich loam of forgiveness; that mongrels make good dogs; that the evidence of God exists in the roundness of things.This much, at least, I’ve figured out. I know this much is true.”
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. The characters were so real that they continue to live on in my mind weeks after I finished the book. There were times during this book that I laughed and times that I cried. Even though Thomas is the twin in the mental hospital, Dominick, who always felt it was his job to take care of his brother, is having a major meltdown due to all the trauma in his life. This is the story of twin brothers who both deal with the demons in their lives. It is a long but absolutely fantastic book and should is a must-read!
    • 2/5
      Did not particularly enjoy this book, but it was an Oprah selection if you like those.
    • 3/5
      Haunting, chilling. Years later the premise of this book still breaks my heart.
    • 4/5
      I loved this book. The two stories in one was great- and surprising. I read it when i was 15 and got many comments because it is a huge book. A huge book, but it doesn't seem like that while reading it.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book! I have listened to the unabridged audio book (excellent) and read the print version as well. Time very well spent, even though my to-do list is huge. Superb novel!
    • 3/5
      While some chapters made me eager to read on, others just at times felt long and draggy.Overall its not bad and if I was Dominick, I don't think I would have been able to manage thru like he did...really opened my eyes to real ppl who face such situations.
    • 5/5
      This is an excellent, well written novel. I highly recommend this book! The character development is exceptional.
    • 5/5
      A character-driven book about loss and redemption. While the book is long, it is well worth the read.
    • 5/5
      I loved it. I never lost interest, not even for a second. I enjoyed the complex characters and how thier lives changed and twisted together. Most of all I loved that it made me laugh out loud and also I thought the story was realistic. i could see these events in actuality.
    • 4/5
      Long, but worth the read. This has been mentioned by several friends as their favorite book ever so I guess I expected it to be better. I enjoyed the twists and turns and liked the main character, who reminded me of a less-obnoxious Holden Caufield. Its the longest book I've ever read, it didn't move mountains for me, but I enjoyed it.
    • 5/5
      I picked this out from a book exchange in French Polynesia and read it during my vacation. It is massive, but doesn't seem so once you start reading. It's one of those novels that is so vivid, you might dream about the characters. You'll won't want to put this book down for long, so it's best to read when you have a good chunk of time to devote to it.
    • 5/5
      This physically large book is also large in its impact to the reader and the image it has left with me. The writing is very readable and really provides an impressive sense of the emotions felt by the characters. This is one of those books that will remain with the reader years later. Though it packs over 900 pages, they were all enjoyable to read and didn't seem anything like a chore. The story surrounds identical twin brothers, one of whom has schizophrenia. We get glimpses into the boys childhood and then live with them as adults. The bulk of the book examines the sane brother's attempt to take care of and understand his sick twin while continuing on with his own life and self-understanding.
    • 3/5
      This is the story of Thomas and Dominick Birdsey, a set of identical twins. Thomas is a schizophrenic, and shared a difficult childhood with his brother Dominick, a childhood which included not knowing who their biological father was, and suffering abuse at the hands of their step-father Ray. The first 500 pages are slow, with frequent (excessive?) flashbacks to set the story. Dominick learns much about himself, and about the process of therapy and forgiveness, as he deals with his brother’s illness while reading his grandfather’s memoirs. With a positive and hopeful ending, this was a good story, although it seems that it could have been 300-400 pages shorter.
    • 5/5
      Don’t be put off by the size of this book, because it’s worth the effort to hold it up while you read it. The trouble is not holding it up, but putting it down. The story of identical twins, one schizophrenic and the other wondering why he got the good fortune and not the disease, wrapped up in an identity quest. God, some writers can tell a good story, can’t they? And Wally Lamb certainly can. The central character is a tortured soul, but as you get to meet the rest of his family, you start to understand why that is. It probably helped me that I read this after a few historical novels, and I was ready for some modern living. One of my favourite parts of the book? It reveals at the end what happens to all the characters. I like that. If you’ve spent some time with the people, you want to know how things end up before you say goodbye to them. Read this book.
    • 3/5
      Great book, awesome characters. I didn't like the parts where it went way back into history.
    • 3/5
      Not as good as the first one, but i still enjoyed it. Would have liked the book to be a little more concise, with a crescendo at the end - seemed bland ending.
    • 5/5
      This is a large, wordy but very comprehensive and involved book telling the story of Dominick, an identical twin, struggling to cope with his brother's schizophrenia. There are some wonderful and original characters here, who grow and unravel as the story progresses and we learn more of their shared history. Dominick, in particular, is a protagonist and narrator who is just as easy to hate as to love. The feeling of resolution at the end of the novel, together with the circular nature of the twins' family history were particular highlights that go towards making this such a marvellous read.
    • 5/5
      Best book I ever read. My all time favorite. Spend a long time reading it, absorb every single line. Also not for the faint of heart.
    • 5/5
      One of the best books I've ever read...couldn't put it down.
    • 5/5
      I love this book. I really got into She's Come Undane and this one did not disapoint!
    • 5/5
      I love this story, I am in love these characters. I drool over psychology and the mystery of schizophrenia. This book provides an imperative insight on how it feels to be closely connected to the mentally ill. Everything falls into place just a bit too neatly..that which I love and hate at the same time. Don't judge a book by its Oprah's Book Club sticker.
    • 4/5
      For me this book started off slowly paced. But then it grabs you, and you can't let go! A great book!...It ended up as one of my favorites! I never thought the story of two brothers, one mentally incapacitated, would interest me so much. but it did. And I'm glad.
    • 4/5
      'On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother Thomas entered the Three Rivers Connecticut Public Library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable.' -From I Know This Much Is True, page 1-And thus begins Wally Lamb's sweeping saga about two identical twins. Thomas battles schizophrenia. Dominick, the sardonic narrator of Lamb's novel, struggles to come to terms with his family history and brother's illness - artfully revealing their lives, uncovering secrets, and seeking redemption along the way.Lamb has created a very long family narrative, that weaves forward and back on itself like the rushing waters of the river which runs through the brothers' Connecticut town.'"Life is a river," she repeated. "Only in the most literal sense are we born on the day we leave our mother's womb. In the larger, truer sense, we are born of the past - connected to its fluidity, both genetically and experientially."'-From I Know This Much Is True, page 610-Our hearts ache for Thomas, lost in a world of fantasy - but especially for the central character, Dominick who carries the guilt of having escaped Schizophrenia and longs to understand who he really is apart from the person who seems to be permanently linked to his brother and his past. In fact, this idea of linkedness threads its way through the pages over and over again.'"In a sense, your identical twin, he is you and you are he. More than most siblings, you are each other. No?"'-From I Know This Much Is True, page 234-Ultimately, the novel is about a man's voyage through life and his search for identity against a backdrop of family secrets. Lamb forces the reader to explore the ideas of redemption and forgiveness, despair and hope, faith and doubt, grief and happiness. I Know This Much Is True requires patience to wade through, but is well worth the journey.Recommended.
    • 2/5
      Story of relationships and loss and the psychological impact of those interactions. well written.
    • 3/5
      Identical twin brothers, one is legally mentally ill, the other is worse. 897 pages of learning the second brother’s reasons for depression. Wrong book at the wrong time for me.